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Biography

Prior to priesthood, Fr Nabil was president of the parish council of Saint Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church, Melbourne. After this, he was ordained to the diaconate in 1993 taking the name Nabil and continuing to serve at Saint Nicholas East Melbourne.

In the same year, Bishop Gibran of Australia and New Zealand, Fr Dimitri Baroudi (priest of St Nicholas, 1990-present) and Dcn Nabil organised a Forum at St Nicholas East Melbourne. Most of those attending were priests of various Christian denominations. This forum inspired many conversions from the Anglican Church to the Orthodox, many finding a home at Saint Nicholas. These included Virginia Hutchinson (now superior of St. Anna Convent), Fr Raymond Smith (with his congregation of 50 families on the Gold Coast), Fr Ted Doncaster (priest of St Anthony the Great, Perth), Fr George Robinson (in Canberra, now in ROCOR), Fr Geoff Harvey (priest of the Good Shepherd Mission, Melbourne), and the late Fr Columba Radford (serving the Western Rite parish of St Cuthbert's, Melbourne).

Priesthood

In 1997, Dcn Nabil was ordained to the priesthood, closely followed by his 1998 elevation to Archimandrite. This made him the first priest within the Antiochian Orthodox Diocese of Australia, New Zealand, and All Oceania, to be elevated to Archimandrite in Australia. During this time, he continued to serve at St Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church, East Melbourne.

With Fr Dimitri Baroudi, Archimandrite Nabil reinvigorated the Sunday School, established a youth group and a senior citizen's group, and provided strong representation of the Antiochian Orthodox Church in a number of inter-faith forums. In 1999, Archim. Nabil was elected president of the Victorian Council of Churches, the first Orthodox to be so.

Move to Sydney

In 2003, Archim. Nabil permanently moved to Sydney to continue his work with parishes in Sydney, and was appointed Vicar-General of the Archdiocese. On the 28th August, 2005, Archimandrite Nabil commenced duties as Dean of St. George Cathedral, Sydney, replacing Fr Nicolas Mansour who retired after 42 years of priestly service at the Cathedral.